Sandglass is a South Korean television series considered one of the most significant and highest-rated Korean dramas in history. Written by Song Ji-na and directed by Kim Jong-hak, it aired on SBS in 1995 in 24 episodes. A depiction of the tragic relationship among three friends affected by the political and civilian oppression of 1970s and 1980s Korea, the series mixed politics, melodrama, action, and great acting. It recorded a peak rating of 64.5%, the third highest of all time, and launched its leading trio of Choi Min-soo, Go Hyun-jung, and Park Sang-won into stardom. Its reenactment of the Gwangju Massacre remains one of the most realistic, devastatingly powerful, and unforgettable moments in Korean TV history.

Hur Jun is a 2000 TV biographical drama broadcast by the South Korean TV channel MBC. It was aired by Taiwan Television in 2002 and Hong Kong's TVB in 2005, after the finale of "Dae Jang Geum". Because of the similarities between the two main characters of the show, "Hur Jun" has often been called the male version of "Dae Jang Geum". Also worth noting is the fact that the original title of the show was never used outside South Korea. In Taiwan, the title was re-worked to become "The Way of Medicine: The Epic Doctor Hur Jun". The first half of the title stuck, and was used by TVB when it aired "Hur Jun" in 2005.

Based on renowned Japanese novelist Yamazaki Toyoko's representative work Shiroi Kyotō, the drama brings viewers deep into the political inner workings of the medical field by taking a satirical look at malpractice and power plays at a university hospital, and contrasting the paths and personalities of two doctors.